Footage of Tyneside people, council bosses and businesses’ eco-conscious activities was shown on two current affairs programmes in Japan.

A crew working for ABC Asahi TV visited the region to film material for two documentaries about what Newcastle is doing to cut its emissions of the harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Director Kiyoshi Okamura and his colleagues were attracted to the city by the pledge by civic leaders to make Newcastle the first carbon-neutral city in the world.

During a two-day stay on Tyneside the crew spoke to Les Clark, sustainability manager for Newcastle City Council.

The Chronicle’s Go Green couple, Steve and Gil Emsley, from Jesmond, were interviewed about life in an aspiring green city and their efforts to reduce the impact their actions are having on the environment.

And the crew also spoke to representatives from the CarbonNeutral Newcastle group and visited the Newcastle Building Society and Durham’s ClimateDome.

Les Clark said: “We are one of the first cities to say that we have an aspiration to become carbon-neutral

“I have had some e-mails from people in Japan who have seen the programme and are interested in finding out more about what we are doing, so it has certainly raised our profile.”

During his visit to the city, presenter and director Kiyoshi Okamura said: “The striking thing is that Newcastle itself has decided to try to become carbon-neutral and to make people do it. There are some charity groups in Japan who are trying to do this, but not the Government or council like here.”

The results of the filming were screened on the Japanese programmes News You, which is similar to the BBC’s Question Time, and Good Morning Call.